Tie rod puller

ABSTRACT

A tool for exerting a pulling force on a tie rod extending between opposing walls of a concrete form to draw the walls into contact with wall spacing shoulders on the tie rod. The tie rod puller has a lever with a handle at one end and a transverse fulcrum projecting beyond opposite sides of the lever between its handle and other end, and a puller arm pivoted on the other lever end and having tie rod gripping means at its free end. In use, the puller arm is inserted between the reinforcing timbers or socalled &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;whalers&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; of one form wall to a position of gripping engagement with the tie rod wherein the lever fulcrum engages the whalers at the sides of the lever and a force is exerted on the lever handle in a direction to exert a pulling force on the tie rod and thereby draw the form walls toward one another into contact with the tie rod spacing shoulders.

United States Patent Primary Examiner-Andrew R. .luhasz AssistantExaminer-David R. Melton Attorne'y-Boniard I. Brown Rose [4 1 Aug. 1,1972 v[54] TIE ROD PULLER [72] Inventor: Arthur W. Rose, 3917 Pamela[57] ABSTRACT Road, Chino, Calif- 91710 A tool for exerting a pullingforce on a tie rod extend- [22] Filed: Nov. 23 1970 ing between opposingwalls of a concrete form to draw the walls into contact with wallspacing shoulders on PP 91,639 the tie rod. The tie rod puller has alever with a handle r at one end and a transverse fulcrum projectingbeyond 52 L U opposite sides of the lever between its handle and 35}:other end, and a puller arm pivoted on the other lever [58] Field A 30131 end and having tie rod gripping means at its free end.

In use, the puller arm is inserted between the reinforc- [56] ReferencesCited ing timbers or so-called whalers" of one form wall to a positionof gripping engagement with the tie rod UNITED STATES PATENTS whereinthe lever fulcrum engages the Whalers at the sides of the leverand aforce is exerted on the lever handle in a direction to exert a pullingforce on the tie rod and thereby draw the form walls toward one anotherinto contact with the tie rod spacing shoulders.

2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAus 1 I972 I lNl/EA/TOR ARTHUR 14R055 ATMEA/EY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION I 1. Field of the InventionThis invention relates generally to the construction field and moreparticularly to a tie rod puller for use in the erection of concreteforms.

2. Discussion of the Prior Art Concrete shapes such as walls and thelike are often poured on the job site with the aid of forms havingspaced walls. Each wall has an inner facing sheet of plywood or the likesecured to an outer frame including spaced timbers, such as 2 X 4's,commonly referred to as whalers. A form is constructed by placing theform walls side by side, passing tie rods between the walls, andexerting a pulling force on each tie rod to draw the walls toward oneanother into contact with spacing shoulders on the tie rod. The rod endsextend between the outer form wall whalers and are secured to the wallsby means of wedges, referred to as hair pins whichare wedged tightlybetween heads on the rod ends and the whalers. These hair pins retainthe inner wall facing sheets in firm seating contact with the tie rodspacing shoulders which, in turn, provide the proper spacing between thefacing sheets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a tie rod pullerfor use in constructing such concrete forms. The puller has a lever witha handle at one end and a transverse fulcrum extending beyond oppositesides of the lever between its handle and other end. A puller arm ispivotally joined at one end to the other end of the lever. On theoppositefree end of the puller arm are tie rod gripping means.

In use of the tool, its puller arm is inserted between the outerreinforcing whalers of one form wall and the gripping means on the armare placed in gripping engagement with the end of a tie rod extendingfrom the opposing form wall. At this time the remote end of the rodwillbe anchored to the opposing wall by a wedge or hair pin. The leverfulcrum is then engaged with the adjacent form wall whalers, and a forceis exerted on the lever handle to rock the lever in a direction to exerta pulling force on the tie rod.

This lever action and pulling force draw the form walls together intoseating contact with wall spacing shoulders on the tie rod. Theseshoulders provide the correct spacing between the walls. When the wallshave thus been properly positioned, the pulled end of the rod isanchored to the adjacent form wall by means of a second wedge or hairpin to retain the walls in contact with the tie rod spacing shoulders.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a horizontal cross-sectionthrough a concrete form embodying a tie rod to be pulled by the presenttie rod puller;

FIG. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section similar to FIG. 1 illustrating a present tie rodpulling tool in position for exerting a pulling force on the tie rod;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of the tie rod puller;

FIG. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a section taken on line 6--6, in FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIGS. 1 and2, the illustrated concrete form 10 has a pair of spaced walls 12 joinedby a tie rod 14. Each wall 12 has an inner facing sheet 16 of plywood orthe like and an outer reinforcing frame 18 including timbers 20 whichseat against and are secured to the outer surface of the facing sheet.Timbers 22, such as 2 X 4s, commonly referred to as whalers, are securedto the frame timbers 20.

Tie rod 14 comprises a slender metal rod 24 proper with enlarged heads26 at its ends. The central portion of the rod 24 mounts a pair ofcollars 28 which provide form wall spacing shoulders 30 and are fixedagainst movement along the rod by crimping the latter or in any otherconvenient way.

In the finished form 10, the walls 12 are disposed side by side withtheir facing sheets 16 in confronting relation. The tie rod 14 extendsbetween the walls and through their facing sheets and the spaces betweenthe whalers 22. The facing sheets seat against the tie rod spacingshoulders 30 which provide the proper spacing betweenthe walls. Theouter ends of the tie rod are anchored to the walls 12 by wedges orhairpins 32 which are wedged tightly between the tie rod heads 26 andwhalers 18 to retain the walls in contact with the tie rod spacingshoulders 30.

Turning now to FIGS. 36, there is illustrated a present tie rod puller34 for aiding installation of the tie rod 14 and other similar rods inthe concrete form 10. Tie rod puller 34 has a lever 36 with a handle 38at one end and a transverse fulcrum 40 between the handle and theopposite end 42 of the lever. Fulcrum 40 is a metal block which iswelded or otherwise rigidly joined to the lever 36 along onelongitudinal edge 44 of the lever. The outer longitudinal'edge 46 of thefulcrum provides a fulcrum edge which extends laterally to oppositesides of the lever. For reasons which will appear presently, the leverhandle 38 preferably slopes away from the lever edge 44 in the directionof the free end of the handle.

Pivotally attached by a rivet 48 to the end 42 of lever 36 is a pullerarm 50. The pivot axis of the arm is normal to the arm and parallel tothe lever fulcrum edge 46. The free end 52 of the arm 50 turns at aslight angle and is laterally enlarged to provide the arm with arelatively broad side face 54. As shown best in FIG. 5, the free end 52of the puller arm 50 has a flange 56 along one longitudinal edge whichprojects laterally beyond the arm face 54 and then turns toward theopposite longitudinal edge of the arm to define a channel 58 openingtoward the latter edge. A gripping pawl or dag 60 is pivotally mountedon the arm face 54 opposite the channel 58. Dag 60 has an arcuateserrated gripping edge 62 whose radius from the pivot axis of the dagincreases in the counterclockwise direction, as the dag is viewed inFIG. 4. As explained below, the flange 56 and dag 60 together constitutea tie rod gripping means 64.

The tie rod puller 34 is used in the following manner. The tie rod 14 isinserted one end first through the walls 12 of the concrete form 10 inthe usual manner with a wedge or hair pin 32 at the opposite end of therod, as shown in FIG. 3. Prior to placement of a hair pin on the leadingend of the tie rod, the puller arm 50 of the tie rod puller 34 isinserted between the adjacent form wall whalers 22 and the grippingmeans 64 are engaged in gripping relation with the leading rod end inthe manner shown in FIG. 3. This is accomplished by rotating thegripping dag 60 away from the gripping flange 56, engaging the tie rodmember 24 laterally in the As noted earlier and shown in FIG. ,4, thelever handle 38 slopes away from the lever edge mounting the fulcrum 40.This handle slope provides clearance between the handle and the formwall whalers 22 to channel 58 formed by the flange, and rotating the dag5 permit h h dl t b i d f l i a lli into contact with the rod. Owing tothe eccentric location of the dag pivot axis relative to its serratedgripping edge, a right-hand longitudinal pulling force on the puller arm50 in FIG. 4 tends to rotate the dag 60 clockwise relative to the arminto gripping engagement with the tie rod, with a gripping force whichincreases as the pulling force increases.

After engagement of the gripping means 64 with the tie rod, a pullingforce is exerted on the rod by engaging the fulcrum edge 46 of thepuller fulcrum 40 with the outer edges of the form wall whalers 22 andexerting a counterclockwise force on the lever handle 38, as shown inFIG. 3. This force rotates the lever 36 counterclockwise on the fulcrumedge, thereby exerting a right-hand pulling force on the tie rod 14through the puller arm 50. The form walls 12 are thereby drawn towardone another into firm seating contact with the tie rod wall spacingshoulders 30. A wedge or hair pin 32 is then placed between the whalers22 and the adjacent tie rod head 26 and driven lengthwise with a hammerto firmly wedge the hair pin in place. The wedging action of the hairpin retains the form walls 12 in firm seating contact with the tie rodspacing shoulders 30 which provide the proper spacing between the formwalls 12.

force to the handle.

What is claimed as new in support of Letters Patent 1. A tie rod puller,comprising:

a lever having a handle at one end and a fulcrum rigidly joined to andprojecting from one edge of said lever between said handle and the otherend of said lever,

said fulcrum having a fulcrum edge along the side of said fulcrum remotefrom said lever about which said lever is rockable on a rocking axistransverse to the longitudinal axis of the lever,

a puller arm,

means pivotally joining one end of said arm to said other lever end on apivot axis parallel to said rocking axis, and

gripping means on the other end of said arm for releasably gripping atie rod to be pulled.

2. A tie rod puller according to claim 1 wherein:

said fulcrum edge extends along said rocking axis beyond opposite sidesof said lever a substantial distance in comparison to the thickness ofsaid lever measured parallel to the fulcrum edge.

1. A tie rod puller, comprising: a lever having a handle at one end anda fulcrum rigidly joined to and projecting from one edge of said leverbetween said handle and the other end of said lever, said fulcrum havinga fulcrum edge along the side of said fulcrum remote from said leverabout which said lever is rockable on a rocking axis transverse to thelongitudinal axis of the lever, a puller arm, means pivotally joiningone end of said arm to said other lever end on a pivot axis parallel tosaid rocking axis, and gripping means on the other end of said arm forreleasably gripping a tie rod to be pulled.
 2. A tie rod pulleraccording to claim 1 wherein: said fulcrum edge extends along saidrocking axis beyond opposite sides of said lever a substantial distancein comparison to the thickness of said lever measured parallel to thefulcrum edge.